Neighbours shaken by Bracebridge shooting deaths

Victim in Bracebridge shooting was pursuing a career in social work, mother says.

Heavily-armed police scour the area around a bungalow on Curling Club Rd. in Bracebridge on Friday. Two people were shot and left with vital signs absent. A body was visible on the front lawn of the home.

When Debbie Dyer heard three gunshots outside her Bracebridge home on Friday, she was in complete disbelief.

“It was very loud and very scary,” said the 61-year-old. “We live in a very quiet subdivision. We thought, ‘Really? Were those gunshots? We don’t even have guns around here.’ ”

Just next door, a man and woman lay sprawled on the front lawn of a residence with fresh gunshot wounds.

Police were called to the house on Curling Club Rd., near Golf Course Rd., just before 4 p.m. after several residents had reported hearing gunshots. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, while the woman would later succumb to her injuries in hospital.

The Muskoka Crime Unit and OPP Criminal Investigation Branch are still investigating the incident.

While police wouldn’t confirm the relationship between the victims, the woman’s mother, Alison Irons, identified the man as her daughter Lindsay’s ex-boyfriend.

Irons said her daughter was pursuing a career in social work. She was a student at Nipissing University and was renting a room in the house.

“My daughter had a vocation for working with vulnerable adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and she was the kindest most compassionate soul.”

Dyer described the young woman as “very quiet. She just kept to herself. A lovely young thing.”

The woman’s car was parked in the driveway with the driver’s side door still open, according to Dyer. Neighbours saw the man park his car on Golf Course Rd. and walk to the house, she said.

OPP Const. Derek Wickett would not confirm whether the woman was ambushed.

Dyer also said the landlord of the house was not home at the time of the shooting.

“She’s obviously in a state of upset,” said Dyer. “She had no idea there was somebody out to harm this girl.” Dyer said neither she nor the landlord had seen the woman’s ex-boyfriend before.

“She’d have girlfriends over but they were never men,” said Dyer. “It sounded like it was a relationship that had gone bad.”

Residents of the peaceful neighbourhood, bordered by South Muskoka Curling & Golf Club, were rattled by the shooting.

“This came out of nowhere,” said Michelle Curry, who has lived in the area for four years. “It’s a really high-end, classy neighbourhood. We’re completely surrounded by a golf course. This is one of the safest communities in Bracebridge. Obviously this was a personal situation.”

Fred Dyer, Debbie’s father, said he’d never seen an incident like this in the 18 years he’d lived on the street.

“Nothing like this has happened here to my knowledge,” said the 80-year-old. “It’s a very, very strange thing to happen.”

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